IAS Mains Previous Year Paper : English Compulsory (2005)

English - 2005 (Main) (Compulsory)

1. Write an essay in about 300 words on any one of the following: (100)(a) Environment and Conservation (b) Role of Women in Social Transformation (c) Nuclear Energy in War and Peace (d) India’s Foreign Policy and World Power (e) Television and its Impact on Youth

2. Read the following passage and answer in your own words the questions that follow: (5 x 15 = 75)It is wrong to believe that science has totally eclipsed literature with its inspiring zeal. That literature plays a subordinate role to science is equally untrue. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that science has comparatively a wider range for its impact on the physical world than literature. But that does not mean that literature has been incorporated in the realm of science to the extent that it loses its distinct individuality. The reality is that both co-exist without the one overshadowing the other, Those who think that science has pushed literature into shade reducing it to a non-entity seem to be simply imaginative and illogical in the comparisons of their respective merits. It is no doubt unquestionable that products of science are of greater material value than those which make an emotional appeal, e.g., a bridge is of greater use to the public than a poem. But thereby one should not ignore the importance of a poem which will continue to appeal to human mind for time to come. It is indisputable that a scientific theory like the one propounded by Einstein is not without its philosophical import as it lays its impress on the future growth of literature. But to be effective in this respect, science should unfold its principles by appealing to human emotions and not through crude and concrete material facts. Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection in its exposition of the evolution of man by appeal to emotions and imagination of men has been conducive to the growth of nineteenth century literature. Mans emotional attitudes to life and vicissitudes of his fortune are colored not only by his inherited instincts and faith in his fate but also by his hope in point of longevity of life and betterment of future prospects. Oriented by a scientific theory, they give a colour to literature.

Literature feeds the emotional and imaginative hunger of man in this perspective science will not oust literature but enrich it by its impact on human life. Science can provide amenities of life for human comfort but fails to lend or impart spiritual pleasure Delight that literature instills in man far transcends the comforts which science provides.

(a) What is the basic contribution of science to humankind? (b) What aspect of human life is fulfilled by works of literature? (c) How have Darwin’s and Einstein’s theories proved conducive to the growth of literature? (d) How is science friendly and not hostile to the growth of literature? (e) Briefly enumerate the key ideas in the passage.

3. Make a precis of the following passage in your own words in about 220 to 240 words. Marks will he deducted if the precis is not written on the separate precis sheets provided and if it is longer or shorter than the prescribed limit. State the number of words used by you in the precis at its end and securely fasten the precis-sheets inside the answer-book. (75)

Gautama, the Buddha, has suffered as much as anyone from critics without a sense of history. He has been cried up, and cried down, with an equal lack of historical imagination”. Buddhism came to be widely known in the west in the latter part of the 19th century when a wave of scepticism spread over the world as a result of the growth of science and enlightenment. Positivism, agnosticism atheism and ethical humanism found wide support. In much of the literature of doubt and disbelief, the name of Buddha is mentioned with respect. The humanists honour him as one of the earliest protagonists of their cause- the happiness the dignity, and the mental integrity of mankind.

Those who declare that man cannot know reality and others who affirm that there is no reality to know, use his name. Agnostics quote his example. Social idealists, ethical mystic’s rationalist prophets are all attracted by his teaching. Great as is the value of the Buddha’s teaching for our age, we cannot hope to understand its true significance without reference to the environment in which he lived. This effort of historical imagination is not easy. To view the Buddha as a thinker of the sixth century B.C., living, moving and teaching in its peculiar conditions, is a task of extreme difficulty and delicacy; and the work of reconstruction can never be complete. But we may be reasonably certain that it yields a picture which in its main outlines, at least, must correspond fairly well to the reality. The supremacy of the ethical is the clue to the teaching of the Buddha. His conceptions of life and the universe are derived from his severely practical outlook. The existence of everything depends on a cause. If we remove the cause, the effect will disappear. If the source of all suffering is destroyed, suffering will disappear. The only way in which we can remove the cause of suffering is by purifying the heart and following the moral law. Man is not divine but is to become divine. His divine status is something to be built up by good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. The ego consists of the feelings that burn us, of the passions we brood over, of the desires that hunt us and of the decisions we make. These are the things that give life its dramatic character. There is nothing absolute and permanent in them.

That is why we can become something different from what we are. The reality of the person is the creative will. When we deny the clamour of emotions, stay the stream of things, silence the appetites of body, we feel the power of self within our own being. For the Buddha, the impulse to dharma, to justice and kindliness is operative in things, and its efficient activity will mean the reduction of disorder, cruelty and oppression. Dharma is organic to existence and its implication of karma or right action is the builder of the world. There is not in the Buddha’s teaching that deep personal loyalty, passion of love, and intimate dialogue between soul and soul resembling closely in its expression of earthly love. And yet the essence of religion, the vision of a reality which stands beyond and within the passing flux of immediate things, the intuitive loyalty to something larger than and beyond oneself, and absolute active in the world, is in him. We find in Gautama, the Buddha, in powerful combination, spiritual profundity and moral strength of the highest order and a discreet intellectual reserve.

He is one of those rare spirits who bring to men a realization of their own divinity and make the spiritual life seem adventurous and attractive, so that they may go forth into the world with a new interest and a new joy of heart. While his great intellect and wisdom gave him comprehension of the highest truth, his warm heart led him to devote his life to save from sorrow suffering humanity. The greatness of his personality, his prophetic zeal, and burning love for suffering humanity made a deep impression on those with whom he lived; but his true greatness stands out clearer and brighter as the ages pass, and even the sceptical minded are turning to him with a more real appreciations a deeper reverence and a truer worship. He is one of those few heroes of humanity who have made epochs in the history of our race, with a message for other times as well as their own.

4. (a) Correct the following sentences: (10)(i) Too great a variety of studies destruct the mind. (ii) The whole fleet of their ships were captured (iii) Each of these students have done their work. (iv) None but fools has ever believed it. (v) He is one of the cleverest boys that has passed through the school. (vi) My friend, philosopher and guide have come. (vii) The majority are opposed to this proposal. (viii) He told me that he saw his father last month. (ix) If he would have worked hard, he would have passed the examination. (x) Unless he will be more careful, he will not recover.

(c) Use the following phrases in your own sentences so as to bring out their meaning: (5)(i) Apple of discord (ii) A bolt from the blue (iii) A feather in one’s cap (iv) Achilles’ heel (v) A man of letters

5. (a) Which of the two words within brackets in the following sentences is correct in the context? (10)(i) Poets often (sore, soar) to great heights of imagination. (ii) Knowledge (proceeds, proceeds) from the Goddess of Learning. (iii) The tower was struck by (lightning, lightening) and fell down. (iv) Kanpur lies on the air (rout, route) to Calcutta. (v) Everyone is (jealous, zealous) of him. (vi) The crocodile emerged from the river and (seized, ceased) a goat. (vii) He was found in (collusion, collision) with the plotters. (viii) Wicked persons are not (illegible, eligible) for responsible posts. (ix) He is a man of (lose, loose) character. (x) The Emperor is staying at the royal (mansion, mention).

(b) Use each of the following words in two separate sentences, first as a noun and then as a verb: (10)(i) Book (ii) Bare (iii) Clam (iv) Drive (v) Face

(c) Change the following sentences into Indirect Speech: (10)(i) He said, “I am too ill to speak now.” (ii) The policeman said to the man, “Where are you going?” (iii) She said to her children, “Let me work undisturbed.” (iv) He said to the students, “Do not sit here.” (v) He said, “May god pardon the sinner.”

ESSAY - 2005 Write an essay on any one of the following topics: 1. Justice must reach the poor 2. The hand that rocks the cradle 3. If women ruled the world 4. What is real education? 5. Terrorism and world peace 6. Food security for sustainable national development